World’s First Famous Streaker has Papers Uncovered

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with facts for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.
Ernest Renan (1823 - 1892), philosopher, philologist and historian

Here is a little tidbit to kick off the week Drudge Report style: The world’s first well-known streaker, Archimedes, who according to the Los Angeles Times, best known for running naked dripping wet from his bathtub through the streets of Syracuse shouting “Eureka!” after discovering the principle of water displacement in his bathtub; I am guessing it was a Saturday night.

On the more serious side, according to the article, scientists are using the powerful X-ray light emitted by the synchrotron at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to read hidden text on a 1,000-year-old copy of the Archimedes palimpsest, a mathematical and engineering text written by the Italian philosopher in the 3rd century BC.

In case you had forgotten, Microsoft’s Encarta Reference Library provides the following:

In mechanics, Archimedes defined the principle of the lever and is credited with inventing the compound pulley. During his stay in Egypt he invented the hydraulic screw for raising water from a lower to a higher level. He is best known for discovering the law of hydrostatics, often called Archimedes' principle, which states that a body immersed in fluid loses weight equal to the weight of the amount of fluid it displaces. This discovery is said to have been made as Archimedes stepped into his bath and perceived the displaced water overflowing.